Court Sentences Adakole Ogbodo To Death For Murder Over Satchet Water Dispute
By Sherif Salau
A seemingly trivial argument over a bag of sachet water ended in tragedy and, four years later, a death sentence at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.
Justice Modupe Nicol-Clay convicted Adakole Ogbodo of murder and sentenced him to death for the killing of a man identified only as Bolaji. The fatal confrontation took place on 31 January 2022 at No. 66B Mosley Road, Ikoyi.
According to the prosecution, the two men quarrelled over sachet water (a.k.a pure water). The disagreement quickly escalated; Ogbodo struck Bolaji on the head with a scaffolding pipe and stabbed him with a knife, inflicting injuries that later resulted in his death.
The Lagos State Government charged Ogbodo with murder under Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The charge sheet, dated 20 June 2022, was prosecuted by a team led by former Director of Public Prosecutions Dr Babajide Martins and Mrs Titilayo Olanrewaju-Daud.
No eyewitness directly observed the moment the fatal blows were delivered. Justice Nicol-Clay, however, ruled that the chain of circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution was compelling and pointed irresistibly to Ogbodo as the person responsible.
On the question of intention, the judge held that Ogbodo must have known that hitting a person on the head with a scaffolding rod was likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm. “The court finds that the convict set out to cause grievous bodily harm to the deceased knowing that the probable consequence of the use of a scaffolding rod on the head of the deceased could be death,” she said. The law, she added, presumes that a person intends the natural consequences of their actions.
Before sentence was passed, defence counsel entered a plea in mitigation. He told the court that Ogbodo had been in custody since 2022, had no family or support system, and begged for leniency. Justice Nicol-Clay responded that the law left her no room for discretion. Murder carries a mandatory death sentence under Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
The judgment brings a long and grim chapter to a close. What began as a dispute over a few sachets of water has left one man dead and another facing the ultimate penalty of the law.
